We went over some of the trends here at YCS Atlanta earlier (and you can check that out here), but there are even more cards finding their own at this tournament. Let’s take a look.

Running 55 or more cards

While not a specific tech choice, we’re seeing several Duelists with successful Decks that have a lot of cards in them, entirely to combat opponents who use That Grass Looks Greener. Johnny Nagel used one such Deck in his Feature Match here. [FERN: Link to that here please] Since the Zoodiac Deck aims to make a few specific plays, it’s easy to fill in a large Deck with ways to get that combo going. You can run 3 of each Zoodiac monster you want, 3 Zoodiac Barrage, and 3 Fire Formation – Tenki, giving you a great chance to draw into your key cards. The rest of the Deck is filled in with Spell and Trap Support, and many Duelists use the extra space to fit in Interrupted Kaiju Slumber and a bunch of Kaiju monsters.

Lullaby of Obedience

When you’re in a format with over half of the competition using the same cards, Lullaby of Obedience is a very strong choice. So strong, a lot of players were using Lullaby in their Main Decks! If both Duelists are using Zoodiac, the Lullaby player can swipe an opponent’s Zoodiac Ratpier. That’ll not only allow them to extend the use of their own 3 Ratpier – they can also leave their opponent’s Ratpier attached as an Xyz Material. That’ll leave the opponent with just 2 copies, shutting down the standard Zoodiac combo. Besides Ratpier, Lullaby is also finding use as a way to take an oponent’s big combo starters, like Speedroid Terrortop.

Different Dimension Ground

We’re seeing Different Dimension Ground used primarily to counteract That Grass Looks Greener. When used in response to Greener, your opponent will end up banishing a bunch of their best cards. Sometimes, a well-timed Different Dimension Ground is enough to win a Duel on its own. Different Dimension Ground can also sometimes be used in response to the Zoodiac combo, forcing the opponent to stop early or banish their copies of Ratpier. Even if they do keep playing out the combo, they won’t be able to use Daigusto Emeral or Zoodiac Combo with an empty Graveyard.

Forbidden Apocrypha

A little bit Dimensional Barrier, a little bit Torrential Tribute, Forbidden Apocrypha is being used quite a bit today. When every Zoodiac combo ends the field with two Xyz Monsters, Forbidden Apocrypha becomes a no-brainer. With a single card, you can clear away your opponent’s monsters – and unlike cards like Dark Hole, this can be activated responsively and on your opponent’s turn, and won’t take out your own monsters if you’re careful. Apocrypha is also strong against Invoked Decks, which will often Fusion Summon each turn. While few players are Main Decking it, Forbidden Apocrypha is being played in tons of Side Decks today.

Chain Disappearance

This one’s another card we’re used to seeing in the Side Deck, but is actually being Main Decked today. Chain Disappearance is very strong against a number of strategies, with Zoodiac Ratpier being the best thing to banish. In addition, it hits Aleister the Invoker, completely nullifying the threat of Invocation. It is also strong against Ronintoadin, Infernoid Decatron, and more popular threats.